FROGGY BOTTOM GUITARS

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In 1970, while the shop foreman at Gurian Guitars, Michael MIllard built his first guitar in his apartment on New York's Lower East Side. The guitar's sides were bent on the traditional "hot pipe" – in his kitchen. Froggy Bottom Guitars was born.

As we now celebrate 47 years of Froggy Bottom Guitars, Michael and his partners have built something on the order of 5,000 different guitars, each crafted for a specific client or player. Froggy Bottom Guitars' talented team of craftsmen now includes Andy Mueller, Eric Goodenough, Larry Sweeney of Squeakswe Finishes, and Chris Bavaria of Bavaria Finishing. Led by Michael, Froggy Bottom Guitars custom builds instruments one at a time in their central Vermont workshop for amateur and professional musicians and a few authorized dealers.

Our instrument making is unique in many ways. Every element of our building methodology is designed to allow us maximum flexibility to vary each and every component of each instrument. In functional terms, this allows us to respond fully to to the needs of our players. There is nothing generic; no stock answers. This approach limits the number of guitars we can produce, but the results are worth it. Guitars are tools for personal artistic expression, and because people and players vary widely, their instruments should vary widely, as well. Disinterested in generic instruments, we take to heart the opportunity to build YOUR guitar – the instrument of your hopes and dreams.

At Froggy Bottom, it is our mission and our privilege to translate musicians' understandings of what they need and desire in an instrument into the very physical world of wood and strings.

In order to design and build an instrument that meets and exceeds a player's hopes and expectations, we ask lots of questions. And we listen very carefully. Working directly with a player, we build a guitar that individual may have been envisioning and refining for years and only imagined. Guitars don't lie. When all is said and done, our guitars – and their owners – speak for themselves. Ask the person who has worked with us to build their guitar. We do not advertise the names of our clients, either world-famous or unknown. Your guitar is about your needs and no one else's.

Froggy Bottom Guitars are built to order for individual players, OR sold through a very small selection of the world's finest guitar shops. We are grateful for their work, trust, and support.

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